Bottle and holder therefor



Nov. 24, 1953 c. w. BOGAN ET AL BOTTLE AND HOLDER THEREFOR Filed Dec. 6, 1947 Patented Nov. 24, 1953 umrs OFFICE BOTTLE AND HOLDER THEREFOR Application December 6, 1947, Serial No. 790,166

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a novel bottle and to a support therefor and more particularly to their construction whereby the bottle may be supported in an upright position or in any desired tilted position. I

An especially advantageous use of the combined bottle and support of the invention, is for liquid which is applied from the bottle with a brush. Bottles containing finger nail polish are one example of a use to which the invention may be put. The brush for these bottles is attached to the stopper and extends downwardly into the bottle.

Ordinary experience with finger nail polish and like bottles has shown that when they are full or nearly full, the brush may be dipped into the liquid in the bottle with no difliculty, and that at this time the bottle may be in vertical position. This ease of removal of the polish gradually diminishes, however, as the liquid level becomes lower and lower and it consequently soon becomes necessary for the bottle to be tilted in order to dip the brush into the liquid.

As the hands are ordinarily employed in the work being accomplished, it often is not convenient to tilt the bottle when its liquid contents become low, so that the brush can be clipped therein. As the hands are otherwise busy it is both annoying and risky to have to frequently return one of the hands to the bottle in order to incline it. This is especially true when nail polish is being used as one hand is preferably left at rest while its nails are being painted, and as the other hand is grasping the brush it cannot be used to tilt the bottle. If the hand being painted is used to repeatedly grasp the bottle when it needs to be tilted, there is always the likelihood that some of the carefully applied polish will be removed from the nails.

The practice is frequently resorted to of propping the bottle at an angle so that it will remain tilted and will not require that the person regrasp it each time more polish is to be obtained. However, as the bottle is not intended for such positioning, this is an unsafe expedient as the risk is always present that the bottle will slip and spill its contents. The entire operation is consequently slowed up due to the precautions that must be taken to avoid an accident.

Ifhe combined bottle and support of the present invention perform the important function of retaining the bottle either in a vertical position or at any desired inclination. As the contents. of the bottle becomes progressively depleted, the bottle can be tilted more and more i from the vertical so that the brush can always be clipped easily into the liquid. The employment of the combination of the present invention, therefore, makes it convenient to withdraw the entire contents or" the bottle without involving the risk of an accident, and the nail painting operation is more expeditiously performed as the user is not concerned with the remotepossibility that spillage may occur.

It is to be understood that although the invention is herein disclosed with especial referenceto nail polish bottles, the bottle and holder can as well be used for other liquids such as ink, ink remover, fluid for mimeograph stencils, liquid shoe polish, watch makers oils, perfumes, chemicals for spot removers, retouching fluids for photographic work, and film splicing fluids. Also, although the containers for these liquids are usually made of glass it, is to be understood that they may be made of metal or a plastic and that the word bottles as used herein is intended to be generic to such containers.

As the combined bottle and support of the invention can be manufactured rapidly and at low cost, their construction constitutes an important feature of the invention. Moreover, they present a very attractive appearance and this increases their sales appeal.

Several embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings but it is tobe understood that the invention is notlimited to these details but includes other arrangements falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In these drawings:

Figure l is a side elevational view of vone'pos sible construction, the vertical position of the bottle being shown. in full lines and a. tilted position being shown in dotted lines;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan View of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of a modified form of bottle;

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of another form that the bottle may take;

Figure 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view of another modification of the bottle.

Before describing in detail the illustrated forms of the invention, it may be explained that in general the construction includes a bottle which is so shaped that it presents oppositely disposed. convex surface portions, and also. includes a base or support which has upstanding portions shaped to frictionally grasp the convex surface portions of the bottle and thereby hold the bottle in' any 3 desired position. Both the bottle and the base are preferably moulded to the desired shape in order to minimize the cost of construction Considering first the arrangement of Figures 1, 2 and 3, this includes a bottle 6 which is of generally rectangular construction. As here shown it is of approximately square cross-section but it will be apparent that it may be of oblong cross-section as well. It is, however, high with respect to its cross-section as this is a common formation for nail polish bottles.

At the lower portion of the bottle 6 and on opposite sides thereof are outwardly projecting protuberances 1l. The outer surfaces of these protuberances are preferably of convex shape and it is preferable that they be portions of a common sphere. These outer surfaces are roughened in any desired manner as by scoring them to form crossings, raised ribs, or by otherwise forming them with serrations to constitute a frictional surface. It will be observed that these protuberances and their roughened exterior surfaces enhance the appearance of the bottle.

The cap 5.! for the bottle 6 is here shown as having a conical under portion 9 to frictionally fit into the mouth of the bottle but this cap may as well be attached to the bottle with a screw connection. Attached to this cap is a depending brush I!) which is to be used to dip into the liquid within the bottle to apply it to the desired surface. As is apparent from the drawing, this brush generally does not extend to the bottom of the bottle and it is for this reason that it is necessary to tilt the bottle to remove all of the contents with the brush.

It is preferable that the bottle 6 be so shaped that it has a flat under-surface as shown at M. This is important so that the bottle may stand on this flat surface on a table or display counter and so that the bottle may be used in the same general manner that an ordinary finger nail polish bottle is used, if this should be desirable.

The stand or support includes a base plate 52 which is preferably of oblong construction. Along the shorter ends of the base plate [2 are footing ribs to rest on the table and these formations improve the appearance of the plate without adding to its expense. Adjacent to one of the shorter ends of the base plate [2 are depressions [3 in which the fingers being painted may be rested. These depressions serve to retain the fingers against movement so that the finger nail polish can be more carefully applied to them.

Projecting upwardly from the base plate I2 toward the other narrower end of the plate are a pair of spaced members !4!4. These uprights M are at this other end of the base plate so that the bottle which is to be mounted between them will have a base thereunder even when the bottle is in an inclined position as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, to thereby increase the stability of the assembly. The inwardly facing surfaces of the upright members M are of concave formation and are so shaped that they cooperate with and conform to the outer surfaces of the protuberances I of the bottle 6. If the outer surfaces of the protuberances are portions of a common sphere, it is apparent that the inner faces of the uprights l4 should define surface portions of this same sphere.

The upright members M should be of sufficiently resilient construction that when the bot-- tle '6 is disposed between them they will frictionally grasp the seating surfaces of the bottle and thereby retain the bottle in an upright position or at any desired angle from the vertical. To make certain that there is sufiicient frictional engagement between these cooperating surfaces, the inner surfaces of the uprights M are preferably roughened in the same manner that the outer surfaces of the protuberances 1 of the bottle are roughened.

It is preferable that the uprights I 4 and the base plate l2 of the stand be of integral construction and this may easily be accomplished by molding or stamping the stand from one body of material. This material may for convenience be a suitable plastic, such as polystyrene, cellulose acetate and the like. It will. be understood however that the uprights l4 may be separately formed and be attached to the base plate l2 but this of course increases the cost of its manufacture.

The bottle of Figure 4 shows another form that the bottle may take in carrying out the invention. This bottle 15 is of generally circular shape in cross section and at its lower end it is formed with a bulbous portion IT. This bulbous portion I! is of uniform shape around the entire portion of the lower end of the bottle, and it will therefore be apparent that it presents oppositely facing convex surfaces on opposite sides thereof at all points. The bottom of the bottle [6 is preferably fiat as shown at H] so that it may rest on a flat surface.

It is preferable that the bulbous portion I! of the bottle 16 be a portion of a sphere so that it will fit between the uprights I l without requiring any particular orientation of the bottle with respect to the uprights M. This bulbous portion I! may be roughened about its central zone I 8 in order to frictionally cooperate with the inner surfaces of the uprights l4 and it will be observed that the roughened portion not only serves this important functional purpose but that it improves the appearance of the bottle as well.

The protuberances I of Figure 2 and the bulbous portion I I of Figure 4 are indicated as formed by distortion of a. container wall of uniform thickness. In other words, for the convexity represented by the protuberances I and the bulbous portion I! there is a corresponding concavity apparent at the inside of the container.

It will be understood, of course, that the lower portion of the container in the region of the protuberances 1 or bulbous portion l1, may be solid, or that if desired the concavities in the inner surfaces of the container may be eliminated by continuing the interior walls downwardly into this region all the way to the base, thus maintaining the same cross-sectional area throughout. For example as shown in Figure 6, the lower portion of the interior of container 6 may be a continuation of the upper portion without any internal bulbous enlargement, the bulbous exterior at the lower portion being formed of an additional mass of material, glass, plastic or other suitable material, thus avoiding concavities in the inner walls of the container.

In Figure 5 is shown a somewhat differently shaped bottle but one which nevertheless adapts itself to use in the present invention. The bottle 29 of this figure is almost entirely of spherical shape so that it necessarily presents oppositely facing convex portions on opposite sides thereof at all points around its periphery. This bottle may be mounted between the spaced upright members It to thereby hold the bottle in an upright position or at any desired angle. It will be appreciated that the bottle 20 may be of any desired size and that it is merely necessary to provide a stand having the uprights of such a height and of such a spacing that they will receive the bottle 29 therebetween. It is preferable that the bottom of the bottle 20 be fiat as shown at 2!.

To improve the appearance of the bottle 20 and also to provide it with a frictional outer surface, it may be formed with a plurality of small projecting elements 22 to cooperate with the inner surfaces of the uprights. It will be understood that the inner surfaces of the spaced upright members should be formed with correspondingly positioned recesses to receive the small projections 22 to thereby more positively retain the bottle in position. It is to be further understood, however, that the outer surface of the bottle 20 may be roughened in any other manner to form it with a frictional surface.

It may be observed that although the bottles differ in their overall formation, they each inelude oppositely facing convex surfaces on their outer sides to cooperate with the spaced uprights it of the stand. It is also to be noted that all of the bottles have a flat base so that they may rest on a table in the same manner that ordinary bottles are used. This is desirable so that the bottles may be sold to consumers who may not have the stand which will adjustably support the bottle in any desired position.

It will be understood that instead of a unitary arrangement consisting of a single bottle and a stand therefor, the invention contemplates a ganged arrangement of the bottle holders. Thus the stand may be provided with more than one pair of spaced members so that a plurality of bottles will be supported by one stand.

What is claimed is:

1. A combination that comprises a bottle adapted to contain a cosmetic fluid such as fingernail polish, said bottle having an opening therein, a cap removably closing the opening of said bottle, a brush type applicator connected to said cap to project into said bottle through said opening, said brush type applicator terminating at a distance above the bottom of said bottle when said bottle is in an upright position so that when the level of the cosmetic fluid in said bottle falls below the end of said brush type applicator, said brush type applicator is unable to dip into said cosmetic fluid, said bottle defining curved frictional seating surfaces on opposite sides of said bottle, said curved frictional seating surfaces being located adjacent the base of said bottle, a holder for said bottle including a base member and a pair of standards, said standards being mounted on said base member in spaced and parallel relationship, each of said standards being resilient and being characterized by a concavity, said standards resiliently and detachably engaging therebetween said bottle through the agency of each of said curved frictional seating surfaces being received in one of said concavities of said standards, to define a pivotal connection with an axis passing through all of said seating surfaces,

whereby said bottle is capable of being tilted to any position at an angle to the horizontal and held in tilted position by virtue of the frictional engagement between said curved frictional seating surfaces on opposite sides of said bottle and said standards so that as the fluid contents of said bottle are removed, said bottle can be tilted to bring the remaining fluid contents of said bottle within reach of said brush type applicator.

2. A combination that comprises a bottle adapted to contain a cosmetic fluid such as fingernail polish, said bottle having an opening therein, a cap removably closing the opening of said bottle, a brush type applicator connected to said cap to project into said bottle through said opening, said brush type applicator terminating at a distance above the bottom of said bottle when said bottle is in an upright position so that when the level of the cosmetic fluid in said bottle falls below the end of said brush type ap plicator, said brush type applicator is unable to dip into said cosmetic fluid, said bottle defining curved frictional seating surfaces on opposite sides of said bottle, means to increase the coeflicient of friction of said seating surfaces, said curved frictional seating surfaces being located adjacent the base of said bottle, a holder for said bottle including a base member and a pair of standards, said standards being mounted on said base member in spaced and parallel relationship, each of said standards being resilient and being characterized by a concavity, said standards resiliently and detachably engaging therebetween said bottle through the agency of each of said curved frictional seating surfaces being received in one of said concavities of said standards, to define a pivotal connection with an axis passing through all of said seating surfaces, whereby said bottle is capable of being tilted to any position at an angle to the horizontal and being held in tilted position by virtue of the frictional engagement between said curved frictional seating surfaces on opposite sides of said bottle and said standards so that as the fluid contents of said bottle are removed, said bottle can be tilted to bring the remaining fluid contents of said bottle within reach of said brush type applicator.

CHARLES WARREN BOGAN. ROBERT L. GINESI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 293,640 Dignam Feb. 19, 1884 328,874 Buchanan Oct. 20, 1885 1,380,889 Farriss -1 June 7, 1921 1,648,344 Hatcher Nov. 8, 1927 1,659,383 Theine et a1. Feb. 14, 1928 1,977,922 Serre Oct. 23, 1934 2,071,276 Barbiers Feb. 16, 1937 2,098,823 Gurley Nov. 9, 1937 2,140,231 Jefieris Dec. 13, 1938 2,212,074 Quisling Aug. 20, 1940 2,596,009 Connor et a1 May 6, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 511,444 Germany Oct. 30, 1930 

